WEBVTT STACEY: AUTHORITIES HAVE IDENTIFIED THE MAN WHO LED POLICE ON A MULTI-COUNTY CHASE THROUGH CENTRAL IOWA THURSDAY. 24-YEAR-OLD PHILLIP WOODEN OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI DIED AFTER THE CHASE ENDED IN A CRASH. WOODEN STOLE THE VAN FROM THE OWNER AT GUNPOINT IN DES MOINES EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. STORY CITY POLICE SAW THE STOLEN VAN ON INTERSTATE-35 WHERE THE PURSUIT STARTED. THE 50-MILE CHASE ENDED IN WEBSTER COUNTY AFTER THE VAN ROLLED AND WOODEN WAS EJ

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Driver in carjacking, fatal chase identified

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Updated: 5:16 PM CST Jan 11, 2019

FORT DODGE, Iowa —

Des Moines police have identified the driver of a stolen van who died in a rollover crash after a 50-mile pursuit.

Police Phillip Wooden, 24, of Kansas City, Mo., died early Thursday in a rollover crash near Fort Dodge.

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Des Moines police said officers responded to the 1700 block of Walker Street at approximately 3:36 a.m. to investigate a report of a vehicle theft.

According to police, the victim reported that he had been driving in the 1600 block of East University Avenue when a man robbed him of his white Ford van at gunpoint.

At approximately 4:30 a.m., an officer with the Story City Police Department located the stolen vehicle on Interstate 35. The officer attempted to stop the stolen vehicle, but the driver refused to stop, and a lengthy pursuit began.

Police said the chase made its way through Story, Hamilton and Webster counties.

Story City police Sgt. Jerry Spencer confirmed that officers picked up the chase from there after attempting a traffic stop when a car was reportedly stopped on I-35 in the middle of the road.

Officers attempted to reach the vehicle, but the driver took off. During the pursuit, officers discovered the vehicle was stolen.

Spencer said the van being chased went into a median on Highway 169 between Second Avenue South and Highway 7. According to police, the driver was ejected from the vehicle and killed in the crash.